Your guide to all things prospect, courtesy of Jonathan Mayo

Catching up on the prospects

Certainly was a busy day here at the Witner Meetings on Monday. I figured now would be a good time to catch everyone up on the Minor Leaguers who have changed hands so far, as well as other goings on.

* The Marcum-for-Lawrie deal became official yesterday afternoon and here’s my report on what Brett Lawrie brings to the table.

* The Diamondbacks got two power arms for Mark Reynolds. One of them, Kam Mickolio, is sort of a prospect. Here’s what I wrote about him:

The Seattle Mariners deserve credit for a nice scouting find
with the selection of Mickolio in the 18th round of the 2006 Draft.
The 6-foot-9 product of Utah Valley State reached Triple-A in his first full
season, finishing with a 2.68 ERA, better than a strikeout per inning and a
.219 batting average against. It was enough get the attention of the Baltimore Orioles,
who got Mickolio as part of the Erik Bedard trade before the 2008 season. He
got his first taste of the big leagues that year, appearing in nine games out
of the Orioles bullpen and 11 more in 2009. In the Minors, he kept racking up
strikeouts, even with injury issues – including a groin strain – keeping him
off the mound at times. In his Minor League career, Mickolio has a 9.9
strikeout per nine ratio. In his brief big-leageu stings, he’s struck out 9.4
per nine. He also has a 3.7 walks per nine ratio in the Minors (and
5.0 in the big leagues) and that’s where the issues have arisen, though he was
much better during his stint in the Arizona Fall League that recently
concluded. Mickolio is a sinker/slider guy who was clocked up to 96 mph with
his sinking fastball in the AFL. With his size, he gets a good downward angle
and his sinker can be very heavy (He had a 1.91 groundout-to-flyout ratio in
the Minors in 2010). He doesn’t always command his fastball well, not getting down in the zone consistently. At the same time, he doesn’t always throw his slider consistently well. The quality of his breaking ball comes and goes and when he doesn’t have a feel for it, he becomes a one-pitch pitcher.

* It didn’t get that much attention, but the Mariners gave $2.9 million to 17-year-old Dominican shortstop Esteilon Peguero. Here’s what one Latin American scout had to say about him:

Peguero is an average runner and a fair defender. His best
tool is his bat and he profiles as an above-average hitter. He may not be a
shortstop when all is said and done, but could be an offensive second baseman.
He won’t have a ton of home run power, but should hit plenty of doubles along
the way.

* And, in case you missed it, my story on Mike Moustakas coming to the Winter Meetings to get the Joe Bauman Award for topping the Minors in home runs.

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